There came a night when he raved, and the sound of a woman's name rang out from the open windows of the little bungalow, rang out through the drawn mosquito netting amongst the palm-trees, across the surf-topped sea to the great steamer which lay in the bay. Perhaps she heard it—perhaps after all it was a fancy. Only, in the midst of his fever, a hand as soft as velvet and as cool as the night sea-wind touched his forehead, and a voice sounded in his ears so sweetly that the blood burned no longer in his veins, so sweetly that he lay back upon his pillow like a man under the influence of a strong narcotic and slept. Then the doctor smiled and the boy sobbed.
“I came,” she said softly, “because it was the only atonement I could make. I ought to have trusted you. Do you know, even my father told me that.”
“I have made mistakes,” he said, “and of course behaved badly to him.”
“Now that everything has been explained,” she said, “I scarcely see what else you could have done. At least you saved him from Da Souza when his death would have made you a freer man. He is looking forward to seeing you, you must make haste and get strong.”
“For his sake,” he murmured.
She leaned over and caressed him lightly. “For mine, dear.”